


Our Time Forever

by InkofLethe



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Technically Canon, sort of angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-10 21:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7008619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkofLethe/pseuds/InkofLethe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Lily and James, there was Lily and Remus.</p><p>Friends since first year. Library-obsessed mischief makers. Bonded over their addictions to chocolate, silly muggle movies, and the first rays of light after a summer storm.</p><p>And they were perfect even when they weren't.</p><p>(second chapter/epilogue added)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I think Remus and Lily makes more sense than James and Lily. They're adorable. But yes, technically canon. Sorry Remily fans, I like canonical fanfics.*shrug*
> 
> Also, massive thanks to my friend and beta [dawnheart.](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dawnheart/pseuds/dawnheart) Sorry, I kept pestering you about titles.

“I realize he’s your friend, but are you sure you would mind if I were to hex him?”

“Now, Miss Evans, as a prefect, I am not allowed to turn a blind eye to any hexing whatsoever.”

Her scowl curved into a smirk. “Goody-two-paws,” she snipped, skipping as they began their rounds.

“Hey!”

She turned the slightest to wink at him before speeding up around the corner.

When he finally caught up — a whole two corridors over — it was because she had stopped to comfort a lost first year. After they dropped him off at the base of Ravenclaw Tower, he finally asked the burning question.

“So what did James do tonight?”

Lily groaned. Through the last two weeks, he had alternatively antagonized her and asked her out every night in increasingly ridiculous ways. Tonight, the common room had been covered in flashing signs, some more lewd than others.

When she finished, Remus winced apologetically. He had only been released from the Hospital Wing from his latest transformation the morning before, and with all his catch-up work and the patrol, he hadn’t had spare time to monitor his friends’ antics.

“It’s not your fault,” Lily sighed. “I just wished he’d be more… calm.”

Remus bumped her shoulder gently, taking her frustrated thoughts back to the rounds. They always stuck together when they patrolled although it took longer because it was less boring. They’d talk about some obscure topic both of them (and no one else) were interested in or a novel they both loved or a muggle movies they’d both seen.

That night was a rather quiet one. They found another first year — a Slytherin — to guide to his common room and an embarrassed Hufflepuff who was rushing back to her dorms after losing track of time in the library. With matching sympathetic smiles, they let her go with a warning.

By the time they returned to their own common, it was mostly deserted.

A fourth year couple was falling asleep on each other’s shoulders next to the slowly dying fireplace while a seventh year sat half asleep over some books in the corner. James Potter’s posters  
were thankfully absent from the walls once again.

“Good night Remus,” Lily whispered, pecking him on the cheek.

“Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite,” he replied as she swept up the girls’ stairs. The echos of her giggles floated down like delicate snowflakes.

He smiled and started up the boys’ stairs, slowing when he found Sirius leaning against the wall on the first landing.

“What are you doing?”

“There isn’t something going on between you and Evans, is there?” Sirius asked. His voice was a touch more tentative than usual.

“No,” Remus replied slowly.

“Good,” Sirius sighed. “Couldn’t have two of my best mates hung over the same bookworm. And James would be mad as hell to boot.”

“So it would be bad if I were to have feelings for Lily though? I don’t but say I did. Travesty it would be, huh?”

“Travesty!” Sirius exclaimed, though to his credit, quietly enough that the boys in the dorm they were outside of wouldn’t be disturbed. “You’re talking like… like a posh book, Moony! You always do after rounds with Evans.”

Remus felt his mouth drop just the slightest. “And is that a bad thing?”

Sirius nodded, a single awkward jerk.

“I’m going to bed,” he said finally, pushing past Sirius when it became necessary.

By the time Sirius had followed him up to their dorms, Remus was in his pajamas and hidden by his bed curtains. A few annoyed mutters and things being tossed around filled the otherwise silent room — James and Peter seemed to had gone to bed early — before everything was still again.

No, he wasn’t involved with Lily Evans, but it most certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing if he was inclined towards it.

Right?

 

“Will you come to Hogsmeade with me?”

“Uh, am I not already going to Hogsmeade with you? We have first rounds, don’t we?”

“I mean after, Remus. Accompany me to Honeydukes and Scriptorium and have lunch with me.”

He sat with his empty spoon a few inches above the surface of his soup. Did she just…?

Remus settled the spoon into the creamy liquid and forced a deep breath to filter through his body. “Lily, did you ask me on a date?”

“Y-yes.”

He turned to look at her. She began picking at her bread, bright eyes staring at the white dough as if it held the answers to life.

“James won’t let either of us ever hear the end of it.”

“Screw James Potter,” she murmured, putting down the abused bread.

He smiled faintly, not letting her see. It had been Lily who had first befriended him their first year, not James. He was too quiet and awkward for the boisterous James Potter at first but Lily had invited him to study with her and Snape the second day of classes.

“Are you hoping for a second date if this one goes well, Lily? Do you hope we can become a couple? Are you sure you would want that? I’m not normal, Lily.”

Her tentative nods quickened as he spoke. When he finished, she finally looked at him straight on again. “Remus, you are the absolute nicest, most caring boy I have ever met. Probably one of the most intelligent too. I do not care what bigoted society says, I really like you, and no one will never be able to convince me otherwise.”

Her eyes were wide and pleading. Bright, bright green like summer. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

“I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you.”

Her delight was dazzling. She threw her arms around him in a way that wasn’t unfamiliar, shaking slightly with soft laughter, and he smiled against her hair.

Lily Evans was pure sunshine, even with the gloomy drizzle outside.

 

Sixty hours ago, he was lost from the human world, in the Shrieking Shack.

Ten hours ago, he had been released from the hospital wing.

Eight hours ago, his best friends—no, alleged best friends—told him that he had almost ruined another’s life. Possibly almost killed him.

“Lily, no, we can’t… I just… it’s too dangerous, I’m too dangerous.”

“Remus Lupin! You are not dangerous. How many times do I—do we—need to tell you?”

“Lily, you don’t understand. Sirius was stupid and played a trick on someone and they almost came to the Shrieking Shack while I was transformed. I almost killed him.”

“Sirius played a trick on someone that involved you transformed? He- how could he do something so irresponsible?”

“I don’t know either and I’m not sure I ever want to know but Lily, I was the actual danger. I can’t allow you to get hurt.”

“Nonsense. It doesn’t matter if we’re dating or not. Every full moon I’m still up in the castle, perfectly safe. And if we’re still dating once we graduate, well, you know that experimental potion? Belby’s werewolf relief potion? I got to see some of the preliminary results from their trials and I’m almost certain it’ll be approved within a year. The ingredients, of course, aren’t the easiest to acquire or the cheapest, but since I’m pretty sure I’m gonna become a potions apprentice anyways, I’m certain I can get them somehow.”

“I- It’s still too dangerous, Lily. Please. The person I almost attacked…” Remus swallowed hard. “It was Severus Snape.”

Silent, frozen shock. Through his half closed eyes, he saw the single quiver that ran down her body.

“He was so stupid to fall for Sirius’s trick?”

“I know you haven’t spoken to him since last year, and I know you refused his apology, but I also know he was your best friend for years. Physically, he’s fine, but I’m sure he’s angry over everything. Frankly, I should have been expelled. Sirius too, I think. I’m glad I’m allowed to stay and that Severus agreed to keep my secret, but I really don’t know what the headmaster’s thinking.”

Lily had slumped against the wall. The dust of the abandoned classroom sparkled in the very early morning sunlight. It looked like the snow had drifted in and Lily was the mourning queen of autumn. 

“I’m sorry Lily, but I can’t do this to you any longer.”

“I love you, Remus. Promise we’ll still be friends?”

He paused in the open doorway. “I’ll save you a seat in the library after class.” He slid the door closed, letting only a single faint sob wriggle through the slim crack and to his ears. “I love you too, Lily,” he whispered to the worn wood.


	2. Epilogue: Give Her the World I Couldn't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not beta read but it's pretty short and I edited many, many times, so forgive me.

It was unexpected, but somehow still just right.

Lily fell in love with James.

Those few weeks that Lily and Remus had dated in sixth year were steadfastly not mentioned by any. Once in awhile, when Lily and James were doing something cute and romantic in sight of the other Marauders, Sirius would stare at at Remus with an eyebrow quirked and question in his shadowed eyes.

After James proposed some hours after graduation, Sirius reached out, fingers glazing Remus’s shoulder, that dark question in his eyes again.

Remus ignored him every time.

It wasn’t because he was angry. No, he’d be happy for her no matter what because she was his best friend and he was hers.

After all, no matter how much she fell in love with James, it was Remus she’d go to first when she had an insane and spectacular idea. It was Remus she’d smile at in equal parts triumph, mischief, and excitement when the idea actually worked.

Remus, who she had counted as a friend since first year, who had been able to get along with Severus long enough for the three of them to study some ridiculously complicated topic top to bottom together. Remus, who she always counted on to be a voice of reason even while planning something absolutely outrageous.

And he really was happy because she was happy. Because he knew that she'd give anything to see him happy too, even though he didn't deserve it. Because he knew that James was better for her, could give her so much more than he could. 

 

Remus smiled on her wedding day, standing to the side as a groomsman instead of the groom. 

He smiled as they said their vows. As she bonded herself to his best friend.

Both of them would forever wish that they’d work out but neither would regret what happened afterwards.


End file.
